In honor of 1/3 of bb.com living the beer life in NC, I wanted to post about this event which features local NC brewery, Duck Rabbit. This menu along with the beer pairings is an event you dont want to miss:

One of my favorite beers, Firestone Walker’s 14th Anniversary beer is amazing. One of the many epic beers I had in San Diego, 14th Anniversary is flavorful and complex. Tonight take home a pint, taste 14 and several other beers from Firestone Walker.

Join us Friday 1/21 @ 4pm as we Tap into yet another Firkin! If you can’t make it right at 4, don’t worry it will be flowing for the duration of the evening, or at least till it’s gone.

Bell’s Hopslam is one of the Midwest’s most sought after beers, and Firkins of such a beer are surely a rarity. We @ Stubby’s are honored to get our hands on this beast of a brew and would like to invite all of our friends to come and enjoy it with us!

For those who aren’t too familiar, a Firkin is a cask conditioned ale in which the final stage of the brewing process and carbonation occurs right in the keg. A sort of old school way of making and drinking beer….the way beer should be and the Horizon Red is going to be phenomenal this way!

For those of you who do not want to pay the $15 fee and get the glass, 12oz goblets of any beer on will be available for $8

In addition to all the mind-blowing beers you will be enjoying, we have lined-up a ‘who’s-who’ of the Brewing/Beer World daily for you to talk/learn/heckle/pick the brains of~! This line up is as follows:

Here at Stone, it’s no secret that we have a special place in our hearts for huge malty brews. Join “Dr.” Bill Sysak for a delicious evening featuring one of our favorite beer styles. Hear the story behind these big beautiful brews while you do some heavy duty hands-on learning!

Don’t miss out on the Brewers Guild events. The November 6th event will take place in Liberty Station from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m, showcasing 10 brewers and a special VIP event for you crazed beer nuts. The Lodge at Torrey Pines (this place is incredible) will play host to the closing event on Sunday, November 14. The Lodge will offer 12 brewers and 24 chefs the opportunity to show their stuff.

One recommendation: Do not miss O’Briens Pub. O’Brien’s will be holding some of the best events of the festival, including a special Alpine Beer Co night on November 8th and Barrel Aged Night on November 12th.

Well, the results are in. GABF 2010 is officially over and the results have been tabulated. Thanks, Pizza Port, for not taking all of the medals.

While Washington put up a reasonable fight, the show was stolen by several Southern California brewers, who swallowed up all of the best brewpub awards this year at the GABF.

Here is what we see.

Washington shows up.

Washington appears to have turned in a respectable finish, earning a total of 7 medals (well, if you count Pyramid). Out of the total 237 Medals, Washington will take 1/34th of the medals. But, in a year where the event seems to have been dominated by San Diego brewers, its an ok finish.

Washington award winners include the following:

Hales Ales – Kolsch Ale – Gold Medal

Chuckanut Brewing – Vienna Lager – Gold Medal

RAM Tacoma – Total Disorder Porter – Gold Medal

Elysian Brewing – Dark O The Moon – Silver Medal

Pyramid Brewing – Apricot Ale – Silver Medal

Boundary Bay Imperial Oatmeal Stout – Bronze Medal

Chuckanut Brewing – Pilsner – Bronze Medal

San Diego is on fire.

This was the year for So. Cal. San Diego brewers, Port Brewing/Lost Abbey/Pizza Port, Ballast Point, Karl Strauss and Stone Brewing, took home a total of 14 medals. Los Angeles brewpub, TAPS, took home three medals, as well.

Pizza Port Carlsbad is the big winner with a total of 6 medals (almost matching Washington state). The brewpub is one of several brewpub locations for the retail line of Port Brewing/Lost Abbey. The Carlsbad location is headed by brewer Jeff Bagby, who took home the Best Large Brewpub of the Year, for the second straight year.

Pizza Port’s San Clemente pub took home the Small Brewpub of the Year, while also collecting the Gold Medals in the two most hotly-contested categories – American-Style IPA and Imperial IPA. We cannot wait to get a taste of these ales during San Diego Beer Week.

San Diego's Hamiltons Tavern will not be missed - but where else do we go?

Fresh off a trip to Washington DC, a month back from Tampa, FL and just two months back from our epic adventure to Belgium – Beer Blotter hits the road once again.

To celebrate the birthday of one of our writers, we are headed down the coast to Southern California to visit Orange County and San Diego County.

Now, we have enjoyed beer for quite some time. But, we have yet to experience beer the So Cal way! So we are very excited about this new trip down south, inevitably to sample some of the world’s greatest hoppy ales!

We are looking for some pointers on “not to miss” venues for our trip. Of course, we are expected to try and jam a lot into our 3 day trip. For starters:

Oggi’s/Left Coast – Huntington Beach, CA (i’m a sucker for Hop Juice)
Here are a few of the issues presented, please try and solve, if you can:

I cannot find the time to make it out to Alpine Beer Company. While this stabs me in the heart, because they make the best IPAs on earth, Im wondering if anyone has a clue on where to go to get their beer on tap? I am thinking Hamilton’s is a good start?

I will be staying on Orange County – but I am not finding too much other than brewpubs (Oggis, Karl Strauss, etc.) Does anyone know of any bar that should be visited in the Costa Mesa, Newport, Huntington area?

We have a limited time, so I need to bunch places together. If you know of a nice cluster, let us know. This was the idea behind Ballast Point and Alesmith – who are right across from each other.

Anyone have a nice bottle shop in Orange County to share?

That’s it. Of course, we really appreciate all the help! Please leave your comments below, or e-mail us at beerblotter@gmail.com!